sometimes I cook: watermelon gazpacho

By bonnie, 31 July, 2011

I am a wildly experimental cook. So when I had watermelon gazpacho at a restaurant recently and decided I needed to make it at home, I didn’t go looking for a good recipe for watermelon gazpacho, I made gazpacho how I always make it (more or less) and then pureed and threw in a bunch of pieces of watermelon. I wasn’t sure that would work out. Flavors can clash sometimes.

Luckily, it worked perfectly and came out absolutely delicious. So I thought I’d share.

Please note, you make the majority of this the night and let it sit overnight before you plan to eat it.

approx. 3 cups of watermelon (I tried to measure loosely as I was cutting it up

Instructions

1. Chop all the vegetables, somewhat finely. If you like chunky gazpacho, chop more loosely. Combine in a large bowl with cilantro and garlic.
2. Add in the tomato juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and use a blender or food processor to blend thoroughly. I use an immersion blender (otherwise known as my favorite kitchen tool EVER) to mix everything into a chunky soupy puree right in the bowl.
3. Put it into an airtight plastic or glass container, covered and refrigerate overnight so the flavors can all blend together nicely.
4. The next day, chop up the watermelon and puree it in a food processor or blender. Pour the watermelon into the rest of the gazpacho and mix well.

That’s it!

It’s easy. It’s perfect for summer when I don’t want to turn on my stove ever. It also freezes nicely if you have a lot of it and want to save some for later.